Huntsville First City in the Nation to Offer Laptops and Wi-Fi on the buses to School Children instead of Textbooks

[FiveDime]

I attended the Huntsville City Schools' "State of the Schools" address at tthe end of last year. Some of the items covered included that the system has hired a consultant whose job is to find federal grant money for the system. Two good things about that that stick in my mind are (a) the consultant receives no salasry, but rather is incentivized to maximize benefit by being paid solely as a percentage of grant money acquired, and (b) while it likely did not cover the total cost of implementation (the percentage covered was not mentioned, or I didn't make note of it, one or the other) a great deal of federal grant money was used to reimburse the costs of implementing the computers, tablets, and wi-fi networks.

My daughter (3rd grade) was one of the last in her class to receive hers (the original did not function). It only took a few weeks into the year for her to get a replacement. It is possible some of the teething problems could have been lessened by not rolling out so fast, but I suspect by the end of the school year the first few weeks' difficulty will not be what is remembered most. Daughter has so far been enthusiatic about the type of work that has been done with the laptops.

A further benefit I had not considered, and which was also likely a surprise to many others, has to do with wi-fi on the buses. I attended an open house at my daughter's school last week and the principal mentioned that at his previous school they averaged over 180 bus discipline cases per year, and this year with the wi-fi on the buses, at her school so far they have had ZERO. If it is true that "idle hands/minds do the devil's work," then it would appear this method of occupying the kids' hands and minds while in transit is serving well to keep the devil at bay.

[FiveDime]

As far as teething problems, implementation issues and such, I work for one of those companies that help put men on the Moon and robots on Mars...and I can tell you many days when there is an important component test going on somewhere in our countrywide network, or when it's lunchtime in California and the bulk of our employees are surfing the web while they eat...network performance goes to crap. This is everyday, real -world stuff.

[Reactionary]

FiveDime - the decrease in disciplinary problems seems to have surprised everyone - local TV news (forgot which one) reported that all types of discipline problems were down by more than 50%. The new Superintendent pledged to address discipline, but I don't think that he expected this... I hope someone is looking into it to see if the 1-to-1 computer project is the primary cause of the better behavior.

[cpg35223]

And, in related news: Huntsville schools' digital curriculum provider given failing grade by BBB | al.com

Look, I'm not trying to really crap on Huntsville. But I have always had a problem with people who stand up and say, "Ooooh, buying lots of computers are going to solve our problems! No, really, THIS time it's going to be different!"

[FiveDime]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

...Look, I'm not trying to really crap on Huntsville. But I have always had a problem with people who stand up and say, "Ooooh, buying lots of computers are going to solve our problems! No, really, THIS time it's going to be different!"

Has anyone said that in this thread? I ask not because I am oh-so-sure no one has, but because I genuinely can't remember (my short term memory for trivialities seems to be drying up as I get older...RAM full?).

The advantages I can see *hopefully* playing out are: uniform curriculum with constantly and uniformly updated "textbooks", lesson delivery through a format kids so far seem to be enjoying more, and greater comfort and familiarity at an earlier age with the digital technology and hardware all of us must use "in the real world". Lower reported incidences of disciplinary problems seems to be a happy surprise. Time will tell whether these advantages truly play out, and continue to in the long-term. But to crap all over the project 3 or 4 weeks into its implementation is hardly giving it a fair shake.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by FiveDime

Has anyone said that in this thread? I ask not because I am oh-so-sure no one has, but because I genuinely can't remember (my short term memory for trivialities seems to be drying up as I get older...RAM full?).

And I quote from the OP: "Wow! Very innovative by Huntsville Ipads and Laptops , I think Birmingham and the rest of the nation can learn something from this."

[Reactionary]

cpg - that earlier report was sensationalized by the newspaper:

Pearson Education, the digital curriculum provider for Huntsville City Schools, has reestablished an "A" rating with the Better Business Bureau.

The company, which last week had an "F" rating, has responded to the two complaints that led to that rating. All of Pearson's complaints -- 21 in the past three years -- have been closed out, meaning they have been resolved with the customers... BBB and Pearson officials said last week that the failing grade was based on two complaints that the company had not responded to. A company spokeswoman said those complaints had not been received because they were sent to the inactive email address of a former employee.

Pearson Education's BBB rating upgraded to 'A' (updated) | al.com